Let The Trading Begin!

Fellow Vinylmation collectors are sharing their Disney Store Experiences below. Join in the conversation... send us some pictures of trading at your area Disney Store!

Disney Stores accross the country are now getting into the spirit of trading Vinylmation. Over the past few weeks, the trading boxes were shipped all accross the country and today marks the first official day of trading at Disney Stores. As of right now, just clear box trading at the stores, no big mystery boxes. Trading, weather it be Vinylmation or Pins, is an essential part of the guest interaction that makes Disney so special. It is great to see trading in the stores. In fact, The Playwright in New York, NY sent us these pics from the Times Square Disney Store:

Big Baby! Good to see things are consistent both at the Parks and Stores.

The Playwrite traded his Cutesters Too Tiger Kid for the Fairy Godmother.

Send in pictures of Vinylmation Trading at your local Disney Stores and let us know how you like it. For more information about Trading Vinylmation, check out our Trading Pages.

Christopher from Indiana - 

Here in northwest Indiana, the Merrilville store had three figures in an open box. I was the first one in the store and the first to trade. I traded a rain coat girl from cutesters 2 for a queen bee from Urban 6. It was open box of 3. There were no special or exclusive figures and the cast members said they had not been sent anything special from Disney for the trading boxes. Hopefully if trading goes well, Disney will expand the in store trading.

Tyler from Colorado - 

I brought my Big Baby to trade of course.... and the cast member said one of her co-workers was wanting that one! I guess out here in the middle of the country Big Baby is wanted!

JT from NJ -

Freehold NJ store had a Woody (in the clear box!)

Tyler C from Colorado

I stopped by the Disney store today with Big Baby and Dodger in hand to trade. I traded the two for Lotso and Radcliffe. They did have the card with Lotso, so guessing he may have been one of the Vinyls they put in the case originally. I asked the Cast Member if they had many people trading, she said not many, more people were asking her what they were.

Exclusive Dublin Disney Store Vinylmation

Well, there's more out there. After learning about London, NYC, and San Fransisco exclusives, today @TheRealWeinbeez pointed us to the DisneyPinForum.com where Stitch2814 posted a picture of an exclusive Dublin vinylmation.

Dublin Shamrocks Looks pretty cool. Reminds me of the St. Patrick's Day pieces from the Holidays series.

So what city do you think the next one will pop up in.

Disney Store Online Report: 5/31/11

Hey there Vinylmation fans. The Disney Store is filled with new products, discounts, and a wide array of products that are gone this week; all of which will be covered here in this week’s DSO Report.
Introducing The sun burned, sandal wearing, Independence Day Holiday 2 9” Vinylmation, designed by Tyler Dumas and a LE of 500, appeared online towards the end of last week. This patriotic Vinylmation may not be available for much longer after seeing the quick disappearance of other popular 9”s. He is priced at $48.95.
	The variant filled Park 6 3” series is finally available online both in Tray form, at $310.80, and Mystery Box, at $12.95.
All the Celebrations showed up this morning priced at $16.95
	Also appearing today are a set of Junior Series 2 pins. A set is $25.95 and comes with 2 random pins.
As most of you probably well know, Urban 6’s made their way onto the shelves of the Disney Store Online a last week. However, after what appears to be quite an interest in them, two of the four are already gone. The remaining two single 9”s are priced at $39.95 and come with artist cards. One is the Urban 6 9”s is the Viking, by designer Doug Strayer. A LE of 800, this Vinylmation spawns from the Viking hat combo, which produced this year.
	With rainbow hearts and hidden Mickeys galore, the Love Vinylmation, designed by Padla Gutierrez, is an excellent addition to the Urban 6 series and has a LE of 800.
Comebacks Thomas Scott’s Toy Story series is also available online this week at $238.80 for a Tray and $9.95 for a Mystery Box.
Price Variants The Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge 9” Vinylmation is discounted this week at the price of $34.99, originally $44.95.
	From the Urban 4 9” Series, Memphis, or 80′s Fashion, is discounted to $29.99 from $39.95.
The Clear mystery boxes are still discounted at $5.99. An alternative option to collecting this Clear series is to treat them as another version of Create-Your-Owns and expand your creative collection.
	The select group from The Animal Kingdom series; the Panther, Gorilla, Buffalo, and Bear; remain discounted at $7.99, from $9.95.
The Create Your Own 3”, all but white, remain marked down from $8.95 to $4.99.
Still Around Although still not listed under Vinylmation, both Hyacinth and Willie can still be found online by searching for “animation” in the DSO search bar. Both are priced at $39.95. Hyacinth Hippo is designed by Thomas Scott (Lead Vinylmation Designer) and is from Disney’s Fantasia. Hyacinth is a LE of 1200.
	Designed by Maria Clapsis and from the Make Mine Music segment “The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met,” Willie the Whale is a lively, singing addition to the Animation 1 collection. Willie is a LE of 1000.
Departed Unfortunately gone is the Electric Light 9”, created by Susan Gay and a LE of 800. It is modeled off of “photographic light gauge equipment,” as DSO calls it.
	Both the Urban 3 and Park 3 Mystery Boxes, discounted at $5.99, seemed to have gained popularity this week and are now gone.
The 9” Create Your Owns are still gone.
	All the Disney’s Marathon 3”s are no longer online.
The Create-Your-Own Glow in the Dark originally listed online for $8.95, is not there.
	The Urban series Pocket Watch, designed by Mike Sullivan and modeled after the upcoming Steam Punk series, is priced at $150.00 but isn't there.
The 40th Anniversary Epcot 3”, Magic Kingdom 3", and 71 3" are not there, usually priced at $12.95.
	All but Daisy and Chip from the Nerds Rock series are gone this week. They are both priced at $9.95 when for sale.
The highly anticipated Star Bright 9”, designed by Eric Caszatt and a LE of 600, from the Urban 6 series has left the DSO this week. Looking like something out of a Super Mario videogame, the purple, blue, orange, and yellow stripes and stars make it an extremely vibrant piece.
	Beast, designed by Monty Maldovan and from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, can’t seem to hold its own on the DSO with simultaneous appearances and disappearances in the past few weeks. This week is unfortunately one of those disappearances. Beast is a LE of 1000.
Jack Skellington, designed by Casey Jones and from Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is no longer available online. Jack is $11.95 when available.
	Disappearing too this week is the Junior Keychain mystery box series, priced at $8.95.
Up and Coming Thankfully we have a few upcoming Vinylmations in the weeks to come. All coming out on June 10th, Urban 6 finishes its 9” series and the DSO exclusive “Disney Afternoons” duo comes out. The Moai 9”, created by Casey Jones and a LE of 800, will probably release at the usual $39.95, but that is unconfirmed.
	The Urban 6 Angel Devil 9”/3” combo, designed by Thomas Scott, is a LE of 1000 and will most likely be priced at the common $74.95 combo price.
Finally we have Chris Chapman’s much anticipated LE 1000 Goof Troop 3”/3” combo. This is an online exclusive and will likely sell out quickly, so timing will be everything. However, the DSO isn’t known for its timely releases, so we’ll have to see what time exactly they’ll be released. I’m unsure of the price on this combo.
That’s it for this week’s DSO Report. As always, feel free to leave questions/comments about sections you want explained further, product descriptions/explanations, or simply anything miscellaneous. - Nick J.

Disney Afternoons Vinylmation Explained

Update: 5/31/11 Disney announced today the latest addition to the Disney Afternoons series... Doug and his dog Porkchop. (More details below) No release date yet, but the interesting part of this announcement is they remind us about the Goof Troop set to be released on June 10th, and then say "coming up after that release" will be Doug. Are they skipping over the already announced Dark Wing Duck? Here is the artwork for Doug:


Update: 5/21/11 Added dates for Chip and Dale's release.

Update: 3/2/11 Tailspin went online for $26.95 and then Disney went back and changed all previous mentions of the price to $26.95. Does that mean the rest of the series will change price?

Today, Disney gave us as sneak peak at the rest of the Disney Afternoons Vinylmation lineup. The series was designed by Disney Artist Christopher Chapman and will retail for $24.95 (or $26.95??). We also got word on how these will be released. Although the first release, Tail Spin, will be an online exclusive on March 2nd, the rest of the series will be released at D-Street in Orlando and CA. No release dates have been announced. They will all have an LE of 1000. Now, for the pictures:

Disney's Doug
Original Air Dates as a Disney production: 1996 - 1999

Release Date: ???

Doug is featured in his sneakers and classic green sweater. Porkchops looks normal standing on two legs as a Vinylmation, because he did so in the cartoon as well. The dog has his yellow collar around his neck. Including it's Nickelodean years, Doug ran for 7 seasons with 117 episodes. One interesting note, Nick's Doug had 8 hairs on his head, Disney's version had 9. Any one disappointed Patti Mayonnaise isn't the second character?

Tail Spin
Original Air Date: September 9, 1990

Release Date: March 2nd (Online Exlusive)

Check out Baloo and Kit Cloudkicker. Baloo's hat even comes off.

Darkwing Duck
Original Air Date: September 8th, 1991

Release Date: ????

Gosalyn Mallard and Darkwing Duck are featured in this combo. All sets in this series have accessories. DW has his signature hat. When will Disney step it up one more notch and include capes? Come on, surprise us with the final release.

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
Original Air Date: March 4th, 1989

Release Date: May 27th

Chip 'n Dale are ready for adventure in this combo set. Love the Hawaiian shirt! Great looking hat too.

Goof Troop

Original Air Date: September 5, 1992

Release Date: ????

Goofy and Max make up this set. The big reveal here... Max has a skateboard! That's an unexpected accessory for sure. Will it be removable? I hope so... because nothing will be better than a skateboarding Stormtrooper.

DuckTales

Original Air Date: September 18, 1987

Release Date: April 8th

Who else, but Scrooge McDuck and Launchpad McQuack for this set. Scrooge has his top hat of course, but after seeing what Max gets, wouldn't it be great to have an accessory pile of money for Scrooge to stand on?

What's your favorite Disney Afternoon cartoon?

Pics from the Disney Parks Blog.

Memorial Day 2011

Today we remember the men and women who gave thier lives for the freedoms we enjoy in this country. We are thankful for the freedom to spend time on something so insignigant in this world as Vinylmation. Now for me, in a larger sense, Vinylmation is myself taking a piece of Disney home with me. Bottling up some of that magic and puttin it on my shelf. And for all of us, the Disney Theme Parks are places where, if only for a few hours, we can transport ourselves into a different world. One with no worries, no war, pure magic around every corner and where fairytales do come true. Disney is a needed source of entertainment for our busy lives. But we must never forgot why we have places like this to enjoy. Weather you are reading this article on Memorial Day or any other day, before you move on to read other things, please take a moment to rememeber and say thank you to our servicemen and women who died for our country. God bless them, those serving today, thier families and God Bless the United States of America.

Combo Contest #2 Results

Almost 100 entries... 282 arms... 152 heads... 17 Hats... 9 pairs of glasses... 8 Lincolns... 7 Buzz... 2 Claws... Lots of creativity. We had so many entries, we had to find a way to acknowlage as many as we could. So we created a some categories: Best Combo Figure, Best Group, Best Word Play, Best Story, and Best Complete Picture. But only one of those winners was named best of show and will receive a Kidada 9" Vinylmation. The other category winners will also be rewarded with a Vinylmation. Thank you to everyone who entered, it was fun looking through all the pictures. Let's get on with the show... It's time to announce the Winners of Combo Contest #2! (click any pictures for larger view)

BEST OF SHOW - Winner of the Kidada 9"

Sir Elton John by Stephanie Wojcik Head: Peter Pan (Animation 1) Body: Sonny Eclipse (Park 6) Arms: Kevin Flynn (TRON) Hat: Scrooge McDuck (Duck Tails) Glasses: Minnie Mouse (Nerds Rock!) "I was just playing around with different combinations and all of a sudden I had Elton John!" - Stephanie "After looking through the entries separately, both M.C. and I had this one at the top. A perfect representation of a young Elton John. Extremely creative and all the pieces look great together." - Nick

BEST GROUP

Fan Boys in Line by Beverly Schieman Heads: Stormtrooper, Yoda, C-3PO, Leia, Darth Vader Bodys: Nerds Rock! Goofy, Chip, Dale, Donald, Minnie "This look like Nick and I when we go to MegaCon or a Vinylmation release. I love the idea of the Nerds wearing Star Wars character masks." - M.C.

BEST WORD PLAY

Mushu Pork by The Moores Head: Mushu (Animation 1) Body: Hamm (Toy Story) "Sometimes a design isn't intricate, but when you see it, it just instantly makes you smile. This is one of those that I couldn't get out of my head and it had to be at the top. Great use of combo parts and name." - Nick

BEST STORY

The Many Forms of Madam Mim by Konrad Head: Madam Mim (Villains 1) Bodies: Mim, Rex, Squirrel, Bird, Pink Elephant, Tiger, Kaa, Bonzi, Little Green Dragon Other: Cauldron (Jr. 1) "A lot of work. A lot of creativity. Good use of the vinyl out there to show the story of a classic Disney character. Konrad took 1st and 2nd in this category." - M.C.

BEST COMPLETE PHOTO

Colonel Mustard by Robert Head: Mustard (Condiments) Body: Colonel (Park 4) "Some combos need some extra elements to put them over the top. This figure alone, may not have cracked a top 3, but put it with a scene from Clue and some text, and it becomes an instant classic." - Nick

Next, in no particular order, some of the other entries we received. Some of these placed second or third in the categories above or placed as honorable mentions. More entries can be found at our Facebook Page. Check them out and feel free to leave you comments below.

2nd Place Best Group A Toy Story Affair by Mathew Zhu	3rd Place Best Group Disney on Ice by Rex de Leon
2nd Place Best Word Play Apple Jacks by Dennis Conroy	3rd Place Best Word Play One Smart Cookie by Sharon's 11 yr old
2nd Place Best Story Cheating Illusionist by Konrad	3rd Place Best Story Maestro Lincoln Mouse by Brian
2nd Place Best Complete Picture The Music In Me by Cliff	Cliff
3rd Place Best Complete Picture (tie) Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club by Brad Brelsford	3rd Place Best Complete Picture (tie) Let It Bee by Cliff
Best Foreign Entry Facebook by Helen	2nd Place Best Combo Figure Keep Your Enemies Close by Stina Calungsod
3rd Place Best Combo Figure Cro Mag by Joseph McVey	Honorable Mention Cat in the Hat by Stephanie Wojcik
Honorable Mention Space Monkey by Joseph McVey	Honorable Mention Yensid by Stephanie Wojcik
Honorable Mention Good vs Evil by Stephanie Wojcik	Honorable Mention Tiger Woods by Grant Krueger
Honorable Mention Vacation Buzz by Rex de Leon	Babe Lincoln by Beverly Schieman
April Showers Bring May Flowers by Lindsey Malchak	April Showers Bring May Flowers by Sharon Lewin
A Stitch in Time... by Rex de Leon	...Saves Nine by Jason Okabayashi
Davey Jones by Konrad	Davey Jones by Rex de Leon
Hands off my Fruit Loops by Claudia	Pirate Lotso by Sabrina Badali
Stitch in Space by Rex de Leon	Herbie Fiery Loaded by Gemma Steib
Boiled Lobster by Grant Krueger	Toyota by Jason Okabayashi
Abe ominable Snowman by Joseph McVey	Cheesy Sweater by Joseph McVey
America's Favorite Pastime by Konrad	Snow Knight by Joseph McVey